Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, along with national sports tourneys and robust business travel that dot other times of the year, continues to bolster the Omaha-area hospitality industry overall — leading investors to add about 750 new or totally renovated hotel rooms to the market since last May. And several hundred more hotel rooms are in the pipeline.

At Project Homeless Connect, a Creighton University-sponsored event now in its eighth year, some 675 people recently got checked for lice and received needed immunizations. They got examined by doctors and were lined up with follow-up appointments. But maybe most important, the event knocked down many of the barriers that often keep the homeless from receiving available housing.

Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, along with national sports tourneys and robust business travel that dot other times of the year, continues to bolster the Omaha-area hospitality industry overall — leading investors to add about 750 new or totally renovated hotel rooms to the market since last May. And several hundred more hotel rooms are in the pipeline.

The Hall

The city politics blog of The Omaha World-Herald

Omaha runs out of the offices at 1819 Farnam St. The work there impacts your safety, your parks, your pocketbook. You'll find the best City Hall coverage on this site. It also is a place for you to weigh in. Welcome to Omaha's eye on local government: The Hall.

CVS will clean up a lot it owns at 72nd and Maple Streets after
Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen wrote a letter of
complaint to the company’s CEO.

In the letter sent last week, Festersen said the vacant lot,
situated in his district, has long frustrated him and his
constituents.

Festersen wrote that the city would pursue “any and all” avenues
to get CVS to clean up the property. Festersen said he would
encourage his fellow council members to deny requests from CVS
until the company fixes the lot.

“This site is a blight on the neighborhood,” Festersen wrote to
CEO Larry Merlo.

The city approved plans in 2009 to put a 13,225-square-foot
store on the corner. But that development has never materialized.

Since then, the property has been cited several times for weed
and litter issues, Festersen said.

“I’m disappointed in CVS as a corporate citizen,” Festersen
wrote.

Festersen said representatives from CVS have stopped returning
his calls.

In response to the letter, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said the
company will direct its maintenance vendor to review the lot for
necessary upkeep, including clearing overgrowth along the fence
line.

DeAngelis said the company has “no information to share about
our future plans for this property.”

At a town hall meeting in Benson hosted by Mayor Jean Stothert
last week, neighbors asked about the status of the lot and expressed
frustration at weeds and other problems.

“There’s only one other site in my district that's made me
as angry as that site,” Festersen told them.

He said he thought there was some progress when some dirt was
removed and sold.

But now “the weeds are back,” he said. “And we’re going to keep
going out there and citing them every time.”

A proposal for Douglas County and the City of Omaha to share
some crime lab services cleared its first hurdle Tuesday.

With no discussion, the County Board approved a five-year shared
services agreement that calls for more cooperation between the
Sheriff’s Office and the Omaha Police Department.

Starting Jan. 1, the Sheriff’s Office would analyze drug
samples, blood-alcohol tests and crime-scene evidence for both
agencies in the county crime lab at 156th and Maple Streets.

The Sheriff’s Office would hire two new chemists, with the city
paying the annual $135,000 cost of the new hires. OPD would handle
ballistics test for both agencies. A sheriff’s deputy would be
assigned to OPD’s electronics unit. And crime-scene technicians
from one agency could respond to calls from the other agency.

When the agreement was announced this month, it was heralded as
a breakthrough after years of turf wars and infighting that stymied
previous consolidation efforts.

The proposal still needs approval from the City Council.

The County Board put off its vote for two weeks to hear the
concerns of Jerry Smith, co-owner of the Eastern Nebraska Forensic
Lab, which currently does forensic work for the city.

Smith has said the deal was poorly thought out and would put him
out of business.

He said the city hasn’t had any complaints about his service,
which includes extras such as same-day service on rush jobs —
running a drug test or a trash pull for an officer who needs
results quickly to obtain a warrant, for example.

Smith questioned whether shifting the work to the county lab at
a cost of $135,000 saves Omaha taxpayers money.

In 2013, the city paid the Eastern Nebraska Forensic Lab
$95,650, according to city records. The lab also did $19,000 worth
of drug tests for the Douglas County Attorney’s Office in 2013.

But Douglas County Chief Deputy Sheriff Tom Wheeler said the
county lab will provide services that Smith’s lab doesn’t — testing
hair, fiber and paint chips, for example.

And the Sheriff’s Office plans to pursue accreditation for its
crime lab through the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board — a status that probably
will be required eventually, besides being a sign of quality,
Wheeler said.

The County Board approved the agreement on a 5-1 vote, with Marc
Kraft absent. Mike Boyle, who has pushed for a more thorough
consolidation, voted no.

“Law enforcement people have told me how valuable their service
is — how quickly they can turn it around,” Boyle said.

The agreement approved by the board has one difference from
earlier versions: Douglas County agreed to process fire debris
evidence for the Omaha Fire Department at no extra charge,
eliminating a fee that costs the city about $5,000 a year.

City Council members cited gratitude, admiration and worry
Tuesday in voting to allow another halfway house in midtown Omaha,
over neighbors’ objections.

Council members expressed gratitude and admiration for Santa
Monica House’s 42 years of work in treating women with alcohol and
drug addictions at 130 N. 39th St.

The members worried over a potential lawsuit if the council
prevented Santa Monica from opening a second location in a nearby
mansion.

In the end, after impassioned pleas from Santa Monica and
opposing neighbors, the council voted 6-1 to approve a special use
permit for a halfway house at 401 S. 39th St. The no vote came from
Councilman Chris Jerram, whose district includes the
neighborhood.

Santa Monica Inc. plans to house and treat 20 women in addiction
recovery at the new location, which is now the Renaissance Mansion
event center.

Santa Monica then would use its existing location as a
three-quarter-way house, allowing extended treatment and
preparation for independent living for 14 women at a time, Santa
Monica Executive Director Heather Kirk said.

Councilman Franklin Thompson said issuing the permit could have
some negative effect on the neighborhood, where there already is a
concentration of group homes. But he said he believed the halfway
house would provide a much-needed service, and he feared the city
would expose itself to litigation if it denied the permit, as
happened in a 2005 case.

That case hinged on Americans With Disabilities Act requirements
that cities make reasonable accommodations for people with
disabilities, including addictions.

“Overall, it looks to me that the good outweighs the bad,”
Thompson said.

Neighbors disagreed.

They contended there are already too many group homes in the
neighborhood and urged the council to follow its ordinance
requiring such group living treatment centers be at least a
half-mile apart.

There will be four such centers within a half-mile of each
other, said Mike Jones, an attorney for a Montessori Educational
Center across the street from the Renaissance Mansion. And there
are at least 10 more group homes in surrounding blocks, he
said.

Neighbor Jim Farho, a leader in the Blackstone Neighborhood
Association and Midtown Neighborhood Alliance, said the council
could legally deny the permit — and should follow the rules it
established after the 2005 lawsuit.

“This isn’t about Santa Monica and what they do,” Farho said.
“We really appreciate the work they do. ... It’s about the law the
City Council created.”

He asked, “Do you have a law you want to enforce, or do you have
a law you don’t want to enforce?”

Douglas County Board member Mike Boyle, who lives in the
neighborhood, said approving the permit would set a precedent that
would lead to more houses in the neighborhood being converted to
group living.

Council President Pete Festersen and other members said they
would be reluctant to approve more such exceptions.

A property owner won a six-figure settlement from the City of
Omaha this month, but he also spurred City Council members to look
closer at his record of weed and trash violations.

Now council members are considering changing a city ordinance to
close what they say is a loophole that gives too much latitude to
people who fail to properly maintain their properties.

Council members say more needs to be done to protect neighbors,
who tire of living near overgrown lots and calling the city to
report violations. But the head of the Metropolitan Omaha Property
Owners Association said the city would end up creating too much of
a hardship for property owners.

The matter came up at a City Council meeting earlier this month
when the council approved a $230,000 settlement for several
lawsuits against the city filed by Bernard Morello.

Morello, a former Omahan who has moved to Texas, owns about 200
properties in Omaha, mostly in the northeast part of the city.

Council members said they know him well, both for his history of
litigation against the city and because of complaints that he fails
to mow and pick up trash at his properties.

The lawsuits were not about the mowing and weed matters, but
they did address Morello’s properties. Most involved eminent
domain; Morello felt the city didn’t pay enough money when it took
the properties.

Morello declined to comment about the lawsuits or the council’s
allegations about how his properties are maintained.

The council approved the settlement, but council members said
they were loath to pay Morello any money for his properties because
of the other complaints.

“I’m having a hard time with these particular settlements in
light of this individual’s demonstrated lack of respect for our
municipal codes and his neighbors,” Councilman Chris Jerram
said.

Jerram said the city has gone to “inordinate, extraordinary
efforts” to attempt to get Morello to clean up his properties. The
city has inspected his properties more than a hundred times, Jerram
said, at a cost of about $120 per inspection.

Jerram said the city spends thousands of dollars trying to force
habitual offenders to come into compliance with weed and trash
ordinances.

When there is a complaint about that sort of violation, the city
sends a notice to landowners and then goes to inspect it. If the
violation isn’t fixed, the city takes care of the nuisance and
bills the property owner.

Jerram said Morello cleans up his properties at the last minute
— after the city has paid an inspector to visit the property, but
before Morello is charged for the mowing.

Jerram said that happens regularly, at many properties. He
argues that the city is spending too much money on inspections for
Morello’s properties. In some areas, where neighbors don’t
complain, the properties don’t get mowed at all, Jerram said.

Council members are looking at ways to encourage property owners
to clean up their properties faster, possibly by charging them for
multiple inspections. They said it will benefit neighbors who are
tired of frequently calling the city to complain.

Councilman Franklin Thompson said he plans to work with staffers
to draft an ordinance.

John Chatelain, president of the Metropolitan Omaha Property
Owners Association, said the proposal “sounds harebrained.” He said
he believes property taxes are already too high, and the charge
would add to the burden of property owners.

It “doesn’t sound very fair to me,” Chatelain said.

Councilman Ben Gray said Morello is not alone in exploiting the
“loophole”: Other property owners have also left their maintenance
until the last minute.

Frustration at the City of Omaha bubbled up at a town hall
meeting with Mayor Jean Stothert on Monday evening at the Charles
B. Washington Library in north Omaha.

The mayor and other city officials fielded questions and a few
angry comments about development, crime, street resurfacing and
other issues.

One man loudly accused the city of failing to accomplish
anything in north Omaha, particularly singling out Stothert and
city council member Ben Gray.

Gray became so annoyed that he strode toward the man, then
changed course and went to the microphone. He listed several
projects that have come to the area, including a Walmart at 50th
Street and Ames Avenue.

“We have brought in more than 1,000 jobs in this community since
I got in,” Gray said. “(Check) your facts, fool. I’m out.”

He then left the room.

The group continued to ask questions, with many focusing on
street repair.

Stothert said the city is making progress. For example, she
said, it is trying to speed the resurfacing of Ames Avenue between
30th and 42nd Streets, with the work to begin at the end of 2015 or
beginning of 2016.

The city is about 50 years behind necessary street repairs,
which often can be expensive, Stothert said.

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said a focus on community policing
and efforts to apprehend and prosecute violent offenders has led to
fewer homicides this year compared with previous years.

Stothert acknowledged the city has a lot of work to do in north
Omaha.

“I’m an impatient person,” she said. “I want to get it done
right now, and I think a lot of you are the same. But I can’t get
it done in a year.

“We’re doing the best we can. I think we’re moving in a very,
very positive direction.”

Mayor Jean Stothert has named the seven members of the board for
the newly formed Omaha Municipal Land Bank.

The inaugural board will hire an executive director, write
bylaws and establish policies and procedures for the land bank. The
new agency can select and acquire vacant, condemned houses and
other problem properties, selling them for redevelopment.

The mayor’s appointees:

» Tom McLeay, president of Clarity Development Company and a
partner at Smith, Gardner & Slusky.

» Ken Johnson, president of his own consulting company and board
member for 75 North Redevelopment Corporation and the Omaha Small
Business Network. He is the city’s former economic development
manager.

» Jamie Berglund, a member of the Omaha Housing Authority board
and a senior director of community development with the Greater
Omaha Chamber.

» Spencer Danner of Mutual of Omaha Bank.

» Randy Lenhoff, CEO of Seldin Company and chairman and CEO of
World Group LLC

» Scott Semrad, co-founder and manager of Urban Village
Development.

» Cathy Lang, chief operating officer and vice president of
Accelerate Nebraska and former head of the Nebraska Department of
Economic Development and Department of Labor.

Five nonvoting members are: Mike Riedmann, president of NP Dodge
Residential Sales; Julie Stavneak of J. Development Company; Julia
Plucker, a partner in Heartland Strategy Group; John Heine, a
commercial real estate broker with Investors Realty; and Diane
Battiato, Douglas County Register of Deeds.

The mayor said McDonnell was looking to be reimbursed for
tuition he paid for graduate school classes, among other additions to an original agreement.
McDonnell, meanwhile, said he’s willing to go with a plan that’s
more or less identical to the tentative agreement signed next
week.

Stothert said it could be the end of the week before she’s ready
to offer a final opinion on McDonnell’s three plans.

The Mayor’s Office just told us it was unable to come to an
agreement with McDonnell on a final deal. In a statement, Stothert
said McDonnell “demanded” language be inserted into the pair’s
tentative agreement.

The preliminary deal had McDonnell stepping down and receiving
the city’s largest-ever pension. Stothert, meanwhile, would be
blocked from making significant cuts to the Fire Department over
the next year.

“I am disappointed in Mr. McDonnell’s unwillingness to stay
within the parameters of our Memo of Understanding,” Stothert
said.

The chief and Mayor Jean Stothert signed off on a tentative deal
Monday that has McDonnell stepping down — he’ll be on paid leave
for the time being — and the mayor agreeing to hold off on layoffs
or pulling rigs from service.

McDonnell will have to turn in his city-issued phone and
equipment by Tuesday morning. He’ll be replaced for now by
Battalion Chief Bernard Kanger, who has been with the city since
1991.

Highlights of the deal:

-McDonnell gets a retirement ceremony, just like other departing
fire chiefs, and he’ll get credit for service through the end of
October 2014. That means he’ll hit the 25-year service mark, which
is used to calculate his pension.

-Both McDonnell and the mayor will abide by a “joint
non-disparagement” clause through July 1, 2014.

-The city won’t lay off any sworn fire department personnel
until July 1, 2014, and no rigs will be removed from service in the
same time period. That comes with one exception: Medic 3, the South
Omaha medical unit that’s been a subject of controversy in recent
months.

-Three assistant fire chief positions will be maintained through
the 2014 payroll year.

Robynn Tysver reports the District 1 council representative was
heavily recruited by national Democrats, who believed the moderate,
pro-business councilman had the credentials to win in the
Omaha-based congressional district, the state’s only swing
district.

“At this point in time, however, I’ve determined I can have a
greater impact on my community by staying focused on being a
father, a business owner, and president of the Omaha City Council,”
Festersen said.

Sad day for Dems in Nebraska. The
party’s dream congressional candidate – Pete Festersen – has passed
on a run against GOP Lee Terry

Jamie Gutierrez Mora, owner and president of Midwest Maintenance
Co., was appointed by the Omaha City Council in March. Midwest
Maintenance Co. provides cleaning services for the CenturyLink
Center, the Omaha Civic Auditorium and TD Ameritrade Park.

Gutierrez Mora is a registered voter in Douglas County, but has
not voted there, according to county election records. She owns a
home in Belle-vue with a tax value of roughly $600,000. That is not
the address listed on the r?sum? that Gutierrez Mora gave the city
upon her appointment.

Voters who have previously registered in Nebraska can register
in a different county without having to provide proof of address,
said Valerie Stoj, spokeswoman for the Douglas County Election
Commission.

The fire union’s attempt to get a court to stop to Mayor Jean
Stothert’s proposed budget cuts is on hold — at least for now.

District Judge James Gleason has rejected the union’s request
for a court order that would block the mayor’s $90.6 million budget
plan. The union had argued last month that proposed reductions
would violate the labor contract and put firefighters at risk.

In his ruling, Gleason wrote that the lawsuit was premature,
because the City Council has not yet finalized a budget. He noted
that “the proposal of a budget does not create a budget, and this
court determines that this case is not ripe for decision until a
budget has been approved by the City Council of the City of
Omaha.”

The union, meanwhile, says it plans to be back in court if
Stothert’s budget is approved.

“Community policing isn’t just a matter of getting your officers
out in the community, driving by once or twice a day in a cruiser,”
she said. “True community policing is when the community takes part
in developing the policy.”

With two weeks to go before the council votes on Mayor Jean
Stothert’s proposed budget, city officials and fire union leaders
have revived discussions about the city’s fire
contract.

Talk about the Fire Department’s budget took center stage at
Tuesday evening’s public hearing, where President Steve LeClair
said the layoffs and other cuts forced by the mayor’s $90.6 million
budget should be a concern to Omahans. Fire Chief Mike McDonnell
has recently told council members he thinks cuts could be avoiding by changing the
contract.

Stothert is looking to close the office, which was funded with
federal stimulus grants and opened by former Mayor Jim Suttle. It
aimed to promote efforts that would improve energy efficiency,
including the reEnergize program, which had struggled to meet its goals.

Supporters of the program told the council that the office is
important to Omaha.

“My view, that regional view, is that Omaha loses when it
doesn’t have a sustainability office,” said Rick Yoder, a
sustainability coordinator for the University of Nebraska at
Omaha’s business school. “It loses to other communities in the
region.”

The council is scheduled to adopt a 2014 budget at its Aug. 27
meeting.

“I don’t think things are going to develop the way the city
wants them to develop unless the truck traffic is moved,” said
Jennifer Zimmer, president of the North Downtown Omaha Alliance. “It’s not just
the truck traffic, but the speed of traffic on the way to the
airport. Until traffic slows down, it’s not a safe pedestrian
area.”

With Stothert in office, there’s already been some shuffling in
the department.

Rick Cunningham, who served as planning director under former
Mayor Jim Suttle resigned after Stothert defeated Suttle. Stothert
moved assistant planning director Chad Weaver to long-range
planning and put another assistant director, James Thele,
temporarily in charge of the department.

When a new director is hired, he or she will oversee an $8.3
million budget, which is about 2 percent more than this year.

The aptly-named “Sugar Glider” a small, omnivorous, arboreal gliding possum
(thanks, Wikipedia), may soon be an approved house pet in Omaha.
The City Council is considering adding the sugar glider — in
addition to (seriously) hedgehogs — to the list of animals that can
be licensed in the city. Tiny motorcycles are not expected to be
part of the discussion.